Eating "Healthy": The elusive concept....

"I want to eat healthy"

Who would think that this desire is SO much more complicated than it sounds...
Let's look at it shall we?

When I was in high school eating "healthy" in the cafeteria at school meant opting for the fries WITHOUT gravy.. oh my! Or perhaps the pre-made, soggy, quick grab cream cheese-bagel... ugh... (people who went to my high school probably remember this caf fare!)

Have things changed at schools at all? I mean I've been out of high school now for nearly a decade, I sure hope there's better options at my old high school.. and all schools for that matter! Maybe there were even better options available, I honestly can't remember.... I thought the fries without gravy was healthy so who knows! haha!

Does that view on "healthy" food not seem a little skewed? As I got older this view of "healthy" food stayed with me. I thought "hey, I cook for myself, I must be super healthy", who knew that the food I was cooking for myself was enough to serve 2 more people and full of preservatives and other crap that shouldn't be consumed on a regular basis. Also my "I know pop isn't great for you but I only drink 2 a day" attitude was doing me no favours by adding 100's of extra grams of sugars and calories to my day (not to mention adding pounds to the scale).

There's McDonalds on every corner,  huge deals on pizza & fried chicken and 'junk food' is marketed to us like it's good for us (back to my label reading fiasco). Have you ever gone into McDonalds and thought "Hey I'll get a salad with my McChicken"? ..... yeah... "healthy".... On a side note, I worked at McDonalds when I was in high school and my favourite customers were the one's that ordered the double quarter pounder with bacon with extra large fries and an apple pie but with a DIET coke"... too funny. Was that diet coke really going to make that meal much better?


How on earth is anyone supposed to know how to eat properly? Do you know how many calories you should eat in a day to maintain your weight? Do you know how many calories you drink in a day? Do you know what a serving size is? How is anyone supposed to eat healthfully if none of us know the basics!

I've learned a lot in this 8 months. A LOT. And the funny thing is I'm still learning. There are so many different schools of thought on the eating healthy subject. Seriously! If you're looking online or in books for help on what to do for food you'll be spun in so many different directions that you'll probably just throw it all out the window and give up. One nutritionist will highly recommend eating avocado for the healthy fats, whereas another one will say NO! It's fatty and terrible for you! (On a side note: did you know avocado can raise your vitamin K levels which can interfere with heart conditions? Interesting .. )

So I was thinking: I said live the 80/20 rule, but how are you supposed to do that if you don't know when you're on the 80 side or the 20 side? Let me share with you a little bit on what I believe might be the best ways to eat 'healthy'. There aren't many universal truths! The few that I've come across are:

• Drink 8 glasses of water (approx 2L+).. seriously, do it. After you get through the peeing every 2 minutes after the first few days you'll feel AWESOME and your skin will glow.

• Learn the difference between how much you eat and how much you SHOULD eat in a day. This is pretty shocking in the beginning. Restaurant portions can feed 2-3 people. Servings sizes are important. Just because you serve it a doesn't mean it's the serving size noted on the label. Measure things with measuring cups and spoons until you know how to eyeball (I'll post a chart in a following blog) You actually don't need to eat a ton in a day to feel full and satisfied - once you stop eating junky foods you'll notice it doesn't take as much to feel full and to stay full until your next meal/snack.

• Eat fruit and veggies whenever you can. Divide your 9" dinner plate in half, then in half again (think of a childs plastic plate with the slots) - the large half should be your veggie serving! Add fruit and veggies where you can and note what a "serving" is. It's really REALLY not hard to reach the 5-10 goal.

• Avoid high fat/ high calorie and over processed food. I suppose that's a given, but really, how many people (including me) may think they're making a healthy choice when buying processed food. Look at your "healthy" lean turkey deli meat... nitrates, sodium, preservatives... it's scary stuff!

• Get your food in the purest form you can. Whole foods mean less processing. A tip I heard from my parents dietician was if it's over 15 ingredients, it might not be the best for you. One loophole I found was cereals and granola bars - my favourite Kashi bar is over 30 ingredients. Be mindful and smart - if you can't pronounce it or don't know what it is... DON'T EAT IT!

• Avoid high fructose corn syrup at all costs! It's sneaky and it's renamed over and over and it's in everything, you have to search for it (glucose/fructose, corn syrup, hydrogenated syrup, golden syrup etc etc.)  Its obvious places are in pop & candies (it's a sweetener) but do you wanna know some "healthy" products that have it? Activia yogurt & Nutrigrain bars! NASTY!

• Protein is good! Atkins is bad. Remember to eat lean protein, not greasy bacon or sugary sauce coated chicken wings for protein, those would be your treats.. not your daily protein! I've heard 40-70g of protein is all you need for a sedentary lifestyle. Though I learned as I worked out I was not consuming enough protein, my muscles were always sore and I was lethargic, I added one protein snack a day and it's helped a lot.

• Avoid any specific restrictive diets. No carb diets say you can't have fruit... seriously.. that's wrong. Any diet that removes a food group should be avoided at all costs. We're omnivores for a reason. If you're a vegetarian or vegan there's still no excuse.. there's tons of ways to eat all 4 food groups. I just tried almond milk recently, wowza was that delicious! Vegans... no excuses.. drink your almond milk! Vegetarians... eat your beans!

• Beware of whole wheat. I know that sounds weird, YES buy whole grain and whole wheat whenever you can - you don't want to eat white flour, it's TERRIBLE for you. But here's some more sneakiness - look out for "enriched" whole wheat. It sounds awesome and healthy, you might be thinking "oooo it's whole wheat AND enriched with extra stuff!" but actually what's happened is they've processed the whole grain so much that they mashed out all the whole grain goodness and had to "enrich" it with additives, I also heard they dye it.. Gross. You want your whole wheat/whole grain products to just say "whole wheat/whole grain".. not enriched... this way you're getting your vitamins from the source, not from the laboratory. You can always try rye, spelt or sprouted grain breads - they're AWESOME!

• Organic doesn't necessarily mean it's better or automatically good for you. Organic foods in theory are awesome! Better for us with the lack of pesticides and better for the environment! But the regulations are ALL over the place. The labelling of "organic" or "natural" products is sketchy at best. I'm not saying don't buy organic, try to where you can for sure! Just READ the ingredients and the label.. what makes it organic or natural? Make an informed decision, don't spend your hard earned money on something that might be the same as the 'regular' version. Also check out your local farmers markets once they open, buying locally can make just as much of an impact instead of buying organic and you can talk to the farmer face to face and find out how they grew it!

Does that all make sense? I think so.

I know it may seem like a lot, but after you've shopped a few times, read a few labels this all becomes second nature! Take little steps and try 1 thing a week until it all becomes routine! It won't take long for it all to sink in.

Clear the cobwebs and start thinking with your brain instead of following the marketers and the 'experts'. Just 'cause it's been marketed as healthy doesn't mean squat. Read. Learn. Decide. Remember that it's a process and it's never perfect, things change all the time but as long as you're mindful you will be doing all you can. You make the choices for your healthful eating so be smart and informed about it!  :)